Posts

At the Artists Marketing & Business Academy, we’re all about making a prosperous and sustainable living doing what you love. Are you sick and tired of playing small gigs that pay you next to nothing for your musical talent? What if you could play on huge stages in front of hundreds, if not thousands of people, and get paid like a rock star for it? Would that interest you?

Then it’s time that you discovered how to get booked on corporate stages! We’re thrilled to host guest lecturer Tiamo De Vettori. In this class, Tiamo will teach you:

How to get booked on the biggest and highest paying corporate stages that 6-FIGURE musicians don’t want you to know about

How to make career income from just a few gigs per year

How to use corporate gigs to grow your fan base

The 3 biggest mistakes musicians make when trying to break into the corporate market.

The #1 secret to getting paid like a celebrity in the corporate market

For music fans who want to feel connected, inspired, uplifted, and part of something bigger, we’ve found the artist for you. Often described as a cross between Jason Mraz and John Mayer, motivational acoustic-pop singer/songwriter, Tiamo De Vettori, was recently named L.A. Music Award’s “Male Singer/Songwriter of the Year” & San Diego Music Award’s “Best Songwriter”. Tiamo has been featured on FOX, CBS, NBC, and MSNBC and recently performed on stage at the Jimmy Kimmel Show. With a powerful voice, captivating stage presence, compelling lyrics, and melodies impossible not to sing along to, fans around the world have gravitated to Tiamo’s positive vibe and love for life.

Something that makes Tiamo so unique is that he is also a motivational speaker who combines his on-stage charisma with his inspriring personal stories, orginal songs, and acoustic guitar. Tiamo has performed and spoken to over 32,000 people around the country at seminars, trainings, colleges, and conferences, and has shared the stage with best-selling authors and speakers such as T. Harv Eker, Les Brown, Lisa Nichols, and Dan Millman. Tiamo has moved audiences since he was seven years old. During his childhood, he had the extremely rare opportunity to perform and tour the world with his Italian father, Franco De Vettori, an international opera singer.

Despite growing up on stage, Tiamo’s career as a singer/songwriter didn’t quite materialize until he intuitively hopped on a Greyhound bus headed for Virginia…just a few days after graduating from the University of Arizona. Shortly after, a close friend who had read Tiamo’s poetry and heard him sing, insisted that he explore the combination of songwriting and performing. Needing a friendly push, Tiamo had a hard time turning down his friend’s eventual offer to buy him a guitar as long as he kept one promise to his friend — get the guitar, let it sit in your living room, and as Tiamo’s friend put it, “the songs will just flow out of you”. Surely enough, Tiamo looked at his new guitar one rainy night, picked it up, and without any previous guitar experience, “accidentally” wrote his first song.

Tiamo has climbed to #4 and #18 on the Australian top 40 radio charts and is receiving radio play in 12 countries including the U.S. Aside from his international success, Tiamo can be found performing at some of the most popular venues in his home town of San Diego such as the highly celebrated Humphrey’s by the Bay, large college campuses including the University of California San Diego and San Diego State University, and other highly regarded venues such as the House of Blues, the Belly Up and Hard Rock Cafe. He has also performed live on San Diego’s most-watched morning news shows, News Channel 8 and News Channel 10, and and has been featured on some of Southern California’s most popular radio stations such as KPRI 102.1 FM.

With the international release of his CD entitled “Back to Love”, a vision of creating positive change in the music industry, and a gravitating persona, you can’t help but cheer on this modest, rising star.

https://artists-edge.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Tiamo-De-Vettori-headshot.jpg640473Debra Russellhttps://artists-edge.com/wp-content/uploads/artists-edge-logo_blur-hard-drop-smaller.pngDebra Russell2013-04-25 16:00:192019-10-27 23:42:117 Secrets to Get Booked on Corporate Stages with Tiamo De Vettori

In today’s DIY Music Business, many artists are looking to crowd funding to replace the financing that a record deal used to provide. But the success rates of crowd funding efforts in the music industry are not all Amanda F. Palmer stories. It’s not the get rich quick solution to your financial woes.

Luckily for us, Ariel Hyatt of Cyber PR has studied this question and is going to share a few of her Crowd Funding Success Secrets with the members of the Artists Marketing & Business Academy Professional Program.

In this Interview with an Expert you will learn:

The 3 biggest Crowd Funding mistakes

What you must have in place before you begin your Crowd Funding Campaign

How to choose which Crowd Funding site to use for your campaign – Kickstarter, Indiegogo, where to start?

Is Crowd Funding the right method at the right time for your next project? In this interview Ariel will give you the criteria for making a sound business decision for your career.

Additional Resources for this Interview:

Social Media House: Ariel’s New Online Course [This resource is no longer available]

Ariel Hyatt is the founder of Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR a New York based digital PR firm that connects artists, authors and filmmakers to blogs, podcasts, internet radio stations and social media sites. Over the past 13 years her firm has represented over 1,400 musicians of all genres.

Educating musicians is her passion and her philosophy is: combine social media with Internet marketing to help artists grow their fanbase and increase their income.

Several times a year, she leads sold-out workshops to musicians and music industry professionals looking to learn about Social media and online marketing. Her bi-weekly ezine and YouTube series “Sound Advice” has over 10,000 subscribers and she is a contributing blogger to Music Think Tank.

Ariel has written dozens of articles on how to navigate the “new” music business and her book: Music Success in Nine Weeks is available at Amazon.

The internet has paved the way for the Artist Entrepreneur to create your own career without waiting for the record deal, the publishing deal or anybody to “discover” you.

But learning what you need for your business can be quickly overwhelming – do you need a website? What should be on it? What about Facebook? Twitter? YouTube? GooglePlus?

In this class, we’ll explore:

Case Studies of Artists who are successful

What you need to know when it comes to Internet Marketing and Social Media

The fundamental do’s and don’ts best practices

Internet and Social Media Marketing, for the people using it correctly, their success is no accident. Discover how to apply it to your business and the best ways for you to use the power of the Internet to build the career YOU want!

https://artists-edge.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/artists-marketing-business-academy-foundation.jpg650497Debra Russellhttps://artists-edge.com/wp-content/uploads/artists-edge-logo_blur-hard-drop-smaller.pngDebra Russell2013-01-24 04:00:542020-01-02 02:47:53Internet Marketing and Social Media –Waste of Time or Key to Success in the New Music Business?

Bobby Borg

As a Major label, Independent, and DIY recording/touring artist, Bobby Borg has over 20 years experience in the trenches working with some of the most respected management firms, A&R representatives, music producers, music publishers, equipment manufacturers, songwriters, and journalists. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music with a BA in Professional Music, a graduate of UCLA Extension with a certificate in Instructor Development and Marketing Management, and a graduate of a number of UCLA certificate classes in business, writing, math, psychology, computer science, and music business.

Today, he is the owner of a thriving music consulting company where he speaks with clients around the country and is a regular guest speaker at major music industry events. As a music business instructor, Borg teaches at Musicians Institute where he held the chair of the music business department, as well as at UCLA where he sits on the board of entertainment studies and received the 2011 Instructor-of-the-Year award for his work in music publishing and music marketing courses. Borg was named Vice President of Special Events for The American Marketing Association and awarded the Volunteer of The Year Award in 2012. He is the author of:

Branding is a fundamental marketing concept that is often misunderstood by business owners.

According to Wikipedia:
“A brand is a “Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.”[1] Branding began as a way to tell one person’s cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp.”

What does it mean in terms of your career, your creativity and your fans?

In this overview of of Branding we will explore:

The 2 facets of Branding that you must consider when designing your brand

In order to create success in the music business, film industry, show biz, or visual arts, you must stand out from the competition. The trick is to intentionally design a magnetic brand that attracts your fans/customers/clients to you.

And then make everything you do in your website, your social media, your live performance and your product packaging an expression of your brand.

Michael Brandvold

From working with up-and-coming independent artists of all genres to overseeing online marketing for major acts like KISS, Britney Spears, and Dream Theater, Michael Brandvold’s impact on the modern music industry is without question.

In addition to spearheading digital strategy creation and online social media management for bands, he has helped create marketing strategies that have made millions of dollars for clients.

https://artists-edge.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2011headshotwbkg.jpg300211Debra Russellhttps://artists-edge.com/wp-content/uploads/artists-edge-logo_blur-hard-drop-smaller.pngDebra Russell2012-04-19 16:00:062019-10-30 13:29:18Music Marketing in the Real World – An Interview with Michael Brandvold

I’ve been saying it for years, MySpace, Facebook, ReverbNation – I don’t care – If you are (or want to be) a Professional Musician or financially sustainable Band:

YOU MUST HAVE YOUR OWN WEBSITE!

Thanks to platforms like WordPress, building your own website or hiring someone to build it for you no longer has to cost thousands of dollars.

But whether you build it yourself, or you hire someone to do it, it is up to you to decide what goes in it, on it and how it looks and feels. I’m thrilled to have 2 specialists in building websites for musicians, Josh and Bret, to help us figure out:

What must every Musician/Band website have?

To blog or Not to blog?

What are the best WordPress plugins for musicians’ websites?

How do you integrate and brand yourself from Social Media to your website?

Back in 1999, along with a childhood friend, I started writing, producing, and recording full-time as part of the hip hop duo, BUNKS. With no desire to ever sign a recording contract with a big label, we decided to build our own label and to use the Internet to promote the music.

Back then, Social Media did not exist, but we had services such as MP3.com and Soundclick which allowed us to create profiles, upload music, and share it with listeners across the world. Forums and Messages Boards were the go-to sites for interacting with the independent music community. Specifically in Hip Hop, large numbers of emcees, producers, and fans spent hours engaging in writing lyrics, sharing recordings, and collaborating on instrumentals.

When Myspace became the most popular social networking site in the U.S. in 2006, we dove head-first into Social Media and began sharing and promoting our music with the Myspace community.

Shortly after, it was YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, ReverbNation, and an ever growing list of social networking services. It became hard to keep up with everything going on, but we quickly learned that the World Wide Web was changing, growing, and evolving on a daily basis. It was necessary to learn and maintain flexibility as well as spend a few hours each day reading and researching the latest developments.

The more time we spent with Social Media, SEO, and all the research involved; the less time we had to focus on writing music, booking shows, and releasing albums, BUT…

Other bands, venues, and indie labels noticed our presence and began asking questions. Then they began asking for help. Then somewhere along the line people started paying us for our advice as well as asking us to oversee their Internet Presence (from the Website to all their Social Media accounts). Things began taking off in unexpected directions but we rolled with the punches and soon realized the music community could use our help.

After years of learning, researching, and throwing ideas back and forth, Middle Tennessee Music was born.

C Bret Campbell is owner of Small Barn Sound recording studio in Hillsboro, TN; known for it’s artistic vibe and down home feel. The philosophy at Small Barn is that beauty and integrity of performance comes first. The drive is a desire to see the underdog succeed.

He is also Vice President of Middle Tennessee Music. Founded in 2011 as a merging of Small Barn’s promotion services with those of BUNKS Multimedia, Mid Tenn focuses on independent musicians, labels, venues, publications and web partnerships. Along with free information and promotion services Mid-Tenn act as consultant, webmaster, and online marketing director for bands, artists, indie labels, radio promo companies, and others. We build, host and maintain websites, handle social media campaigns and help build the professional team that an artist on the rise needs.

Bret has been a musician for 35 years, and involved in the music community in some way or another all of that time. He is currently making music, and writing PR and reviews. He covers Social Media forThe Saturday Independent newspaper, the Tennessee music scene for 101 Distribution, and a multitude of topics on Mid Tn and Small Barn Sound. He also organizes and participates in charity concerts for several organizations.

He is blessed to be a happily married father of 3 beautiful children who constantly give him inspiration to be the best he can be.

I found it very informative. And overall, the panel answered one of my key questions about the Music Business in the 20-teens:

Is radio still relevant?

I was happy to discover that today’s radio, as a curator of music and as a place to discover new music, is still alive and well. And thanks to the Internet as well as local, college and NPR stations, radio still has a place in the marketing and promotional plans for unsigned, independent DIY bands and musicians.

How and where people listen to radio depends largely on their demographics and geographic locations. People Over age 50 and/or living in rurul or suburban areas are more likely to listen to terrestrial radio in their cars and home. Younger audiences and urban audiences are more likely to listen via the internet and their smart phone, ipad or ipod. So, knowing who you’re targeting will help to guide your decisions when promoting your music to radio.

According to the panelists, today’s music fan is still introduced to new music via radio, but unlike 30 years ago, their next step isn’t to buy the album at a brick and mortar retailer. Now, when someone discovers new music via either radio exposure or the use of that music in TV shows, commercials or films, their next step is to listen to that band or artist on YouTube and then seek to stream or purchase their music via Spotify, iTunes or the like.

Which means that getting your music up on YouTube as well as using an online distribution center such as CDBaby or SoundCloud is critical.

They also commented that using Internet Radio and other curator services such as Spotify and turntable.fm have been great in the past for reaching an international audience, and they are currently hampered by international licensing issues.

How do artists pitch to radio?

The biggest mistake you can make is sending your CD to a program director and then calling her a million times, leaving the “have you listened to my CD yet?” message. Program directors are inundated and they don’t owe you anything. Be respectful of their time and their process.

First research and make sure that your music is a good fit for that stations programming. Send your CD to the music director, but don’t call over and over! You’re more likely to get a response from targeting specific DJs. Search the radio website to target DJs who play music like yours. Another sources is the CMJ NMR Report

Another important aspect is to network at live events. A personal connection is always better than a cold submission.

This panel didn’t seem high on using Radio promoters. And if you do decide to go this route, they highly recommend that you do your research before hiring a radio promoter. Get the list of bands your prospective promotor is working with and talk to them. Find out if they’re happy, find out what kinds of results they’re seeing from the promotion and if they’d work with this promoter again.

Another suggestion was to use turntable.fm and be a bit sneaky. Become a DJ and curate music within your genre, and create a fanbase as a curator, then periodically slip in your music.

The idea of people curating music for their friends creating play lists and sharing seemed both intriguing and a bit threatening to this panel, basically they felt that DJs are the better choice for learning about new music (an understandable bias). They mentioned that Spotify had merged with Facebook, making it really easy to share play lists with your friends and requiring a Facebook profile to join.

Other Resources Mentioned:

WFMU Free Music Archive for creative commons – The Free Music Archive is an interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads. The Free Music Archive is directed by WFMU, the most renowned freeform radio station in America. Radio has always offered the public free access to new music. The Free Music Archive is a continuation of that purpose, designed for the age of the internet. You can tell people it’s safe to use for podcasting and then promote your music to music blogs.

Marketing is fundamental to your success. If you’re out to make a prosperous living doing what you love, it just won’t happen without marketing.

Yet few artists spend much time learning this foundational set of skills. And many people (not just artists) have a serious misunderstanding about marketing and sales, what it is, how it works and how to do it ethically and artfully.

In this class you’ll discover:

The 3 biggest misconceptions about Marketing

How to use marketing to create lifetime fans and a sustainable career

What it takes to create a Marketing Plan and implement it in a systematic and repeatable way.

Without promotion something terrible happens … nothing!
P.T. Barnum

You can create the most brilliant product, but if nobody knows about it, you will not succeed.

Sarah Gavigan

Sarah Gavigan founded Ten Music in the winter of 2000; the first company of it’s kind to represent Indie Artists and Labels to Advertisers and Brands. 9 years, 45 labels and thousands of placements later, Gavigan is one of the foremost leaders in the field of music licensing.

In 2008 Gavigan developed and taught a course at UCLA entitled “How to get your music licensed in a Commercial.” Today Gavigan Music Supervises, and teaches Musicians and Music Industry professionals how to successfully license their music through her online education program GET YOUR MUSIC LICENSED.